What happened
The number of lives lost in Venezuela’s twin earthquakes has risen to 1,719 as rescue crews continue searching collapsed buildings in the northern state of La Guaira. National Assembly president Jorge Rodriguez said a further 5,034 people had been injured and 15,866 left homeless. Five days after the disaster, rescue efforts are continuing despite fading hopes of finding more survivors, with relief agencies saying the first 72 hours after a major earthquake are typically the most critical for saving lives.

Who said what
“Time is running out to rescue those trapped in Venezuela,” said Elmira Aliieva and Abigail Williams on NBC News. And with tens of thousands of people still unaccounted for, “criticism of the government’s emergency response and limited access to heavy equipment in the hardest-hit state La Guaira continues to grow”. Many devastated areas of Venezuela have yet to receive significant government help, “leaving residents to carry out much of the rescue effort”, said Will Grant on the BBC.

What next?
More than 2,600 overseas rescue workers are now assisting local teams, while the US has deployed hundreds of emergency personnel and increased its financial support. The US Geological Survey says there is a 44% chance that the final death toll could be 10,000 or more.

What happened
Bafta-winning actor Penelope Keith has passed away at the age of 86 “whilst living with cancer”, her family said. Best known for her roles as Margo Leadbetter in “The Good Life” and Audrey fforbes-Hamilton in “To the Manor Born”, she was also president of the Actors’ Benevolent Fund for more than 30 years. In 2014, Keith was made a dame for her services to arts and charities.

Who said what
“Good Life” co-star Felicity Kendal praised Keith as a “comic genius” and a “joy to know and work with”. Comedian Sue Perkins also paid tribute, posting on social media that Keith was the “creator of some of the greatest sitcom characters of all time”.

Despite possessing a “cut-glass accent” that could “hail a lifeboat in a storm”, she was the “product of a broken family”, said The Times. She was brought up by her mother, who “scrimped a living” by working in a hotel in Clacton-on-Sea.

In a 2007 interview with the Daily Mail, Keith said “humour is power”. “If you can laugh, particularly at yourself, you are some way to being able to make sense of things.”

What next?
The Society of London Theatre and UK Theatre said West End venues would dim their lights for two minutes in tribute to Keith at 7pm on Wednesday.

Alzheimer’s disease, a progressive brain disorder that gradually degrades a person’s cognitive and memory functions, is the No. 1 cause of dementia. There is currently no cure, but according to a study by a Monash University team published in the journal ACS Chemical Neuroscience, a new copper-based treatment may be on the horizon.

Alzheimer’s is “driven by the build-up of toxic proteins called amyloid beta”, said a release about the study. These proteins are usually flushed into the bloodstream through the blood-brain barrier. However, in those with Alzheimer’s disease, the “pumps doing the heavy lifting, called P-glycoprotein (P-gp), weaken significantly, clogging the drain and trapping the toxic proteins in the brain”.

The build-up of these proteins in the brain leads to memory loss and cognitive decline. But the copper-based compound Cu(ATSM), which has “anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective properties”, can help to clear them, said senior study author Professor Joseph Nicolazzo. It does so by “increasing the number and activity” of the P-gp pumps, according to Newsweek.

The study is the first to show that Cu(ATSM) can boost the amount of P-gp pumps “by 24.1%, effectively linking the repair of the blood-brain barrier to a reduction in toxic proteins and improved cognitive function”, said lead study author Dr Jae Pyun. “Over 56 days, the treatment reduced toxic amyloid-beta by 42% and improved spatial learning by nearly 44%.”

The disease itself is still full of unknowns. Alzheimer’s “involves the biological environment of the ageing brain, including membrane biology, inflammation, vascular function, lipid metabolism and cellular resilience”, neuroscientist Dr Dayan Goodenowe told Newsweek. “So any single mechanism still has to be validated before we know whether it produces meaningful clinical benefit.”